PrettyInScarlett

Courtesy of a Groupon offer last week, I went to see the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (OSO) on 26th November in their performance of Mahler's 9th Symphony . This was my first OSO performance (as well as my first Mahler 9th performance) and I was suitably impressed both by the quality of the performance and by the turnout. In a related event, the Austrian Embassy had set up a small display about artist Gustav Klimt in the NAC foyer, introduced by incoming ambassador Arno Riedel. There were around 10 themed boards with information in English and German about various aspects of Klimt's life and career. Small but nonetheless a nice complimentary touch to the evening. In addition to the Klimt display, a very informative pre-concert chat by David Gardner provided an excellent introduction. I didn't really notice the length of the Symphony as the music was so intense and descriptive. Even just the first movement was like the telling of a story and it was clear how many sub...

The onset of winter's bitter evenings heralded The PepTides ' last show of 2012 at Irene's Pub on Saturday, 26th November. Interestingly, M and I arrived about 9pm to be told that the pub was at maximum capacity; by 9.45 or so there were about 10 people in this line. 4 or 5 of us were let in about this time, and to my eyes, the pub was about 60% full. To me, a full pub is one reminiscent of London's Circle line at rush hour; on Saturday there was definitely standing room for another 50 people. I imagine that capacity regulations are somehow linked to the alcohol licence but for the lineup still waiting outside at 10.30pm, well, organisation could have been better.   We heard some of The Pelts' support set from the bar -  seemed to be listenable, danceable fun music but not so memorable. Not so the main set. From their introductions, this was the last live show in the current format - with an EP based on Stuart McLean's The Vinyl Cafe just out and a new ...

Further to my post on 14th November about the ECM+ Generation 2012 concert in Ottawa, I received an email with competition results. Each attendee at the Generation 2012 series of concerts had a voting card to vote for their favourite piece, with the winner earning a $1500 prize and commission.  This year's winner is Riho Esko Maimets with his piece Beatitude . Further details from the press release below:

Today's website discovery is a fresher take on 'classical' music. Sinfini Music is a new online portal whose motto is 'cutting through classical' - lots of news, views, videos and more from the world of classical music but without a lot of the jargon. Plus Paul Morley . As a music lover it is sometimes irksome the way that classical music content can be a little opaque. I've just enjoyed reading 'Opera Strip - The Ring Part 1' . 

I bought tickets for last night's ECM+ Generation 2012 concert, featuring Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, at the NAC 4th Stage in an 'it'll be interesting' frame of mind, and interesting was just the start. A very full 4th Stage for a very entertaining and intruging evening. In order of performance, the four new works were: Animaris Currens Ventosa by Marielle Groven ; Ninavanjali by Gabriel Dharmoo ; Beatitude by Riho Esko Maimets ; and Jenny's last rock by Annesley Black . Each performance was preceded by a Q&A with host Nicholas Gilbert, who injected the whole evening with humour. In terms of immediate response, I most enjoyed Beatitude , a concise, intimate and very beautiful concerto for violin and ensemble. Following on from Maimets' explanation, his references to choral music and music of all different time periods were clear. This piece would easily sit alongside more 'traditional' chamber repertoire in a programme.  Maimets...

Having missed the Spring 2012 Ottawa International Writers' Festival, it was good to get into the autumn events. Sadly I couldn't make the Ottawa premiere of Midnight's Children (of which have heard only positive reviews!), but started my autumn festival with the All In A Day Songwriters' Circle. Being a relative newbie to Ottawa, I know of Lynn Miles by name but not a whole lot more. Friday 26th was both a celebration of her quarter-century making music and for me, an educative evening as well. A thoroughly entertaining evening with lots of clips from CBC Radio archives, messages from friends and a cross-section of Miles' prodigious output. I particularly enjoyed 'Love Doesn't Hurt', 'Hockey Night In Canada', and You Don't Love Me Anymore', as well as a guest appearance by Sarah Slean performing 'The Right Words'. Of the New Science series, Jacob Berkowitz ' presentation of The Stardust Revolution was really interestin...

Today I came across a BBC News story about old, worn-out pianos. A sad story but I suppose certain things just wear out. The ray of hope in the story comes from a link to a website called Piano Adoption . In the recycle/freecycle spirit, Piano Adoption provides a useful service for those wishing to give a functioning instrument to a good home; sub-sites for Canada and the UK also exist. One of those 'wish I'd known....' sites, so to continue in the sharing spirit, all the links are contained above.

Somehow the performance space at Alcorn Music Studios, Gigspace , has only recently found its way onto my radar; last Friday, 12th, M and I finally found our way to 953 Gladstone Ave for an intimate performance by Trio Oirialla . Trio Oirialla comprises fiddler Gerry O’Connor , accordionist Martin Quinn , and Breton composer and guitarist Gilles le Bigot , each of whom also has many side projects. The set celebrated traditional music from Ireland, Scotland and Brittany and for the select audience it was something of a cultural history of these areas as shown through a huge variety of tunes both old and new (with a good dose of banter thrown in as well). Whilst the whole evening was hugely interesting and entertaining, a specific highlight of the evening came from one of Gilles le Bigot's guitar compositions. The Reverb Syndicate at Mayfair Theatre Saturday saw an impromptu visit to The Mayfair Theatre for one of their fundraisers for the purchase of a Digital Cinema Packa...

Following on from a successful 2012 festival, Music and Beyond held a Celebration Concert on Saturday, 29th September. The selection of works included repeats of festival favourites as well as a few new choices. One person commented to me that the sheer variety meant that the flow of the concert was a little disjointed (the stage had to be set for each individual performance), but the quality was superb. NAC Culture Days - contemporary dance Again I really enjoyed Howard Cable's The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff along with the evening's offerings from the 'Jewish Composers Through The Ages' concert: Popper's Hungarian Rhapsody and Glick's 'The Rabbi's Wedding at the Palmerston Street Shul' from The Old Toronto Klezmer Suite . Both of these fun party tunes received great applause, even more than Seventeen Voyces ' rendition of Java Jive . Yannick-Muriel Noah dazzled with 'Es gibt ein Reich' from Ariadne auf Naxos , whilst Julie Nes...

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of  Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed ...

This year's format change for Ottawa Folk Festival involved a divide between free and paid events and a slight change to the site layout. Thankfully some of the sound bleed and bad sound mixes of 2011 were gone as well as the stupid split audience for the CUPE stage. M and I had paid tickets for Friday 7th and went to free events Sunday 9th. The one downside of the paid/free divide is that people who want to mix between the 2 halves frequently have to go through security every time... Kathleen Edwards Nonetheless, Friday's lineup was excellent and had clearly enticed lots of people to brave the weather forecast; to my eyes a much bigger audience than last year. We arrived to see the end of Alberta Cross's set (no complaints there) and finally managed to hear Kathleen Edwards . I've read a fair bit about Ms Edwards recently but had so far only managed to hear one song, 'Change The Sheets', but thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the set from this popular son...

Ryoko Itabashi Saturday 18th August saw the 8th annual Japanese Summer Festival here in Ottawa, organised by the local JETAA group . Somehow I didn't spot this last year, but the 2012 edition included all sorts of entertainment including musical offerings from Ryoko Itabashi on the shamisen, followed by Jordan Lincez duo featuring Jordan Patrick and an excellent Japanese accordion player whom I believe is Piromi (Hiromi Iwase). The shamisen performance was really interesting, both in terms of the music and the way in which the instrument is played. The technique seemed to be a mix between violin-family instruments and a guitar. Itabashi demonstrated the different styles of music from around Japan. Following on from this, Jordan Lincez provided a contrast with more contemporary Japanese (and Western) songs, especially solos from Piromi. Also on stage were demonstrations of taiko; kendo, iaido and jodo; as well as Japanese drumming and dance.   Providing a complete c...

The last 12 days have been an enjoyable musical experience. If anything I'd say that this year's concerts were even better than 2011. My highlight of the festival definitely goes to the four-part cycle The Rivered Earth created by Vikram Seth and Alec Roth . It's always good to hear new and different works alongside more 'regular' repertoire, and these four works were stupendous: Songs in Time of War ; Shared Ground/Ponticelli ; The Traveller ; and The Seven Elements/The Hermit on the Ice . The first two are available as recordings on the Signum label. They are predominantly vocal-led works, but varying between small and large choirs and tenor solo; the accompaniment from violin, harp, guitar, small string ensemble and piano. The solo violin suite Ponticelli and violin/piano suite The Seven Elements are amazing. Ponticelli is available on CD or download and would appeal to lovers of Ólafur Arnalds or Amiina .  In other concerts, Menahem Pressler was wo...

Mark Weiner As part of Ottawa chamber music and multi-disciplinary festival, tonight we went to see... a heavy metal band. Yes, Chicago doom band Earthen Grave performed at Saint Brigid's Centre for the Arts. The link comes by their resident violinist, classical (and metal) virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine. A very refreshing evening, as we haven't been to a dirty-guitar live gig in far too long. Not that I am criticising the excellent Apocalyptica ! It seems that something got lost in the promotion, as Saint Brigid 's wasn't that full and most of the audience were festival-goers, though this was somewhat balanced by the very enthusiastic metalheads at the front. We did find it rather weird to go to a metal gig in a former church that is still very much a church (plus no alcohol), though there was sufficient space to stand near the stage rather than remain seated. Most of the set comprised songs from the band's self-titled album, though there were covers of T...

As an addendum to my review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - In Concert, local Ottawa blog Apartment 613 has a great review available here .

An evening off from Music and Beyond on Friday saw M and I at the NAC for the summer spectacular that is The Fellowship of The Ring - Live In Concert . A completely packed Southam Hall with a fair few concertgoers in some sort of fancy dress (I spotted at least one pair of Elf ears) taking advantage of the 'pub' set in the foyer. The performance was wonderful: in terms of the music, the percussion, brass and choral aspects were the most effective live. I'm sure we heard little bits here and there that I've never before noticed in the soundtrack. I had to keep reminding myself to look and listen to the NAC Orchestra - as usual, the film engrossed me. It was also interesting to see the theatrical version again, although being so used to the extended editions, the theatrical version did feel rather truncated. Very enjoyable and I hope the second and third films are also performed 'In Concert'.  

Starting this Wednesday I am blogging for Music and Beyond during their 2012 season. With 80 events there are lots of exciting concerts to come! I am particularly excited about the four-part series The Rivered Earth and An Equal Music , all featuring Vikram Seth. Furthermore, Rachel Barton Pine is back! This year's 'Heavy Metal Violin' concert features here full band, Earthen Grave . I listened to their 2012 album (self-titled) on Spotify the other day and it's pretty good! Posts during the festival are on the Music and Beyond blog . Also coming up this week is The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring live at the National Arts Centre . Something to keep film fans happy until The Hobbit, Part 1 comes out in December, the concert features the film on a 60ft screen with over 200 musicians providing the score. Fantastic!   

After last year's inaugural event (which I wasn't able to attend), the organisers behind Feverfest clearly have expansion in mind. This year's event, last Friday and Saturday (22nd and 23rd June) was co-hosted by Irene's Pub and Clocktower (Glebe) with indoor and outdoor stages. M and I spent an excellent Saturday afternoon relaxing in the shade at Clocktower. This year, I was enticed to go because The PepTides were playing but enjoyed most of the bands I saw. The lunch slot had been awarded t0 Loon Choir whom I hadn't encountered before, but were pretty good. We were not as impressed by Zoo Legacy ; their vocal sound in particular seemed either retro (if you like them) or dated (if you don't). During these sets more people were arriving, but the indoor stage was still pretty quiet when Ty Hall played his set. Just going on his unplugged set, I heard interesting lyrics in a singer-songwriter style, but having listened to some songs on his website , his re...

Catching up on LinkedIn after a vacation, I came across a link for The Saturday Piano Salon . This caught my eye as I organise and attend an adult amateur piano group here in Ottawa. The Saturday Piano Salon, based in London, is an impressive step up from our friendly afternoons, giving amateur (and semi-professional, according to their site) pianists an opportunity to perform on a Steinway Model D at Steinway Hall. I read the review of their first Saturday event with interest. Maybe next time I find myself in London...

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN   String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO          Sen  (The Dream)                                       Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI ...

Something of an intriguing concert to which I was alerted by a friend. I have heard opinions about over-familiarity with the full orchestral versions of Chopin's E minor (op. 11) and F minor (Op. 21) Piano Concertos, however it was very interesting to here them in the 'piano with string quartet' arrangement. The programme notes indicate that Chopin himself performed the E minor Concerto in this arrangement. Certainly a performance in this manner gives the listener an opportunity to hear a far more intimate performance than usual.  Zuzana Šimurdová and Mazurka String Quartet With that in mind - plus the enticement of an 1888 Weber 6' 3'' piano - I and slightly less than 100 others went to Southminster United Church on 2nd June. Sadly the concert didn't seem to have been widely advertised (I saw a very small advertisement in the OSCAR as well as my friend's email) as I had expected more people for an Embassy-sponsored event.  The two concer...

I initially hadn't planned to go to Friday 18th May's Chamber Players of Canada concert featuring Angela Hewitt - Schubert's String Quartet No. 14, Death and the Maiden isn't really my thing. However, I had the chance to attend Friday's rehearsal. As part of 'Angela Hewitt Week' the rehearsal had been opened up to students from Glebe Collegiate, Carleton Heights Public School and Gowling Public School; there were also some attendees from the OrKidstra programme. Once all the students had arrived at Christ Church, the assembled musicians started by playing the final movement of Schumann's Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op. 44. The sound quality from my seat at the back was of a warm, mellow sound (matching the late morning sun outside) combined with an exciting peformance - the kids were hooked. Sufficiently hooked to sit through a good few minutes rehearsing before hearing the first movement from the Piano Quintet . In between playing, both Hewitt an...

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

In addition to all the fun of JUNOfest, those of us who like pianos were treated to the JUNO Pianos concept, inspired by Luke Jerram's Play Me, I'm Yours installations worldwide. Instead of having pianos on the street, JUNO Pianos featured 12 pianos in locations around Ottawa available for anyone to play. I found and played the Yamaha in University of Ottawa's Tabaret Hall and the Steinway grand piano (woop!) in Carleton University Art Gallery .  After playing in Tabaret on Wednesday 28th, I and the other people in Tabaret Hall were treated to a semi-impromptu concert (well, announced on Facebook) by some U of O music students for a few piano pieces, a flute sonata, violin solo and an opera song! The Steinway at Carleton University Art Gallery Saturday afternoon and a cycle ride to Carleton to meet some friends at the Art Gallery to play on another JUNO Piano, this time an antique Steinway grand. I'd not been to Carleton University Art Gallery bef...

Classical JUNOs performers Something of a musical melange weekend but an excellent set of events! Eschewing some of the bands and artists we knew, we chose less familiar sounds for our JUNOfest experience. First up was the Classical JUNOs in Concert event at the National Arts Centre , featuring both nominated performers and composers. The mix of contemporary music was brilliantly played by Christina Petrowska Quilico , Susan Hoeppner , Heather Schmidt and the New Orford String Quartet . Quilico amazed the almost 100-strong audience with her performance of Derek Charke's Sepia Fragments   in a reduction for piano; I found this piece a really captivating mix of earthly and ethereal elements. Quilico's second performance was of Ann Southam's Glass Houses No. 5 , an hypnotic piece which sounded both fiendishly difficult to play but also very clean and unembellished. Susan Hoeppner's excellent performance of Eldin Burton's Sonatina for Flute and Piano got the po...

There's a fair degree of excitement in the Ottawa media about the 2012 Juno Awards , running this year from 26th March-1st April, culminating in the awards show at Scotiabank Place. As well as the official site, the Ottawa Citizen has a special webpage with all sorts of information. JUNOfest, running 30th-31st March, celebrates the breadth and depth of Canadian artists will a huge variety of small shows in venues across Ottawa. The full list of artists is available here , with regular updates via Twitter . Co-presenters Specrasonic have a more detailed 'who's playing where' list on their site ; many events also have specific Facebook pages. For classical music fans, the National Arts Centre is hosting an afternoon event on 30th March entitled ' Classical JUNOs in concert ': Christina Petrowska Quilico and New Orford String Quartet, amongst others, will perform in a 1 hour concert in the NAC foyer, free and unticketed. The other JUNOfest events are door-ticket...

Sadly the stage area at Irene's Pub isn't the most photo-friendly but here are a few snaps from the 11th March show:   Lacroix and ONMC after the performance of Angels   Annalee Patipatanakoon of Gryphon Trio Patricia O'Callaghan During the set from Broken Hearts and Madmen

Intrigued by the music on offer and enticed by cider on tap, M and I went to Irene's Pub on 11th March for Ottawa Chamberfest 's 'New Music, New Places' concert featuring Gryphon Trio and players from Ottawa New Music Creators . A different atmosphere compared to The PepTides show in February but there were enough attendees for an interesting, relaxed evening.  The programme was intended to showcase 7 contemporary compositions under the 'chamber music' umbrella, however Chamberfest artistic director Roman Borys made a last-minute adjustment to incorporate a short set based on Gryphon Trio's new recording Broken Hearts and Madmen , featuring Patricia O'Callaghan. A fellow concertgoer who attended the Broken Hearts and Madmen themed show at Wakefield's Black Sheep Inn on 10th March described a superb evening, which was to be echoed at Irene's.  The first set comprised an abridged 'New Music, New Places' programme. Of the pieces ...

After having read Steven Mazey 's column, a free Monday lunchtime on 27th February and I headed to the NAC Fourth Stage to see University of Ottawa music alumnus Bryan Wagorn . Mr Wagorn, who is currently New York-based (at the Metropolitan Opera), gave a recital as part of the 'UOttawa on the NAC Fourth Stage' series. On a sunny day it was slightly strange sitting in a very dark space, but for the 25 or so attendees that soon ceased to matter. Wagorn's programme consisted of: J. S Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825 ; Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales ; and the suite Mana by 20th century French composer André Jolivet. After the measured-ness of the Bach Partita , the first of Ravel's Valses came as a sharp wake-up! Of the three suites performed the varied and fun Valses were to me most appealing. Jolivet's Mana , as introduced by Wagorn, is a suite of six pieces written for six copper wire dolls. These were all rather different fr...